Glycans as Ligands in Bioinorganic Chemistry. Probing the Interaction of a Trinuclear Platinum Anticancer Complex with Defined Monosaccharide Fragments of Heparan Sulfate

We report herein a detailed NMR study of the aquation and subsequent covalent binding of the trinuclear clinical agent [{trans-PtCl(15NH3)2}2{μ-trans-Pt(15NH3)2(15NH2(CH2)615NH2)2}]4+ (1, 1,0,1/t,t,t or Triplatin) with three d-glucosamine residues containing varied O-sulfate and N-sulfate or N-acetyl substitutions, which represent monosaccharide fragments present within the repeating disaccharide sequences of cell surface heparan sulfate (HS). The monosaccharides GlcNS(6S), GlcNS, and GlcNAc(6S) were synthesized in good yield from a common 4,6-diol α-methyl glucopyranoside intermediate. The reactions of 15N-1 with sodium sulfate, GlcNS(6S), GlcNS, and GlcNAc(6S) were followed by 2D [1H,15N] heteronuclear single quantum coherence (HSQC) NMR spectroscopy using conditions (298 K, pH ≈5.4) similar to those previously used for other anionic systems, allowing for a direct comparison. The equilibrium constants (pK1) for the aquation of 1 in the presence of GlcNS(6S) and GlcNS were slightly higher compared to tha...